My dear boys and girls, I hope you quite see the difference between working for salvation and working out salvation. You are not told even once to work for salvation. Where will you find a text which says so? Not in the Bible, I am sure. But then a person who is saved,—who has eternal life, is told to work it out in his life by the power of God.
Now, I want to tell you how one knew he was saved. Sometime ago, at the close of a gospel meeting, I spoke to a dear mull who was converted. I asked him,
“Have you eternal life? Are you saved?”
“O, yes,” he said.
“But do you feel it?” I asked.
“No,” he answered, “I do not feel I am saved.”
“Then, how do you know you are saved and have eternal life?” I asked.
“Because Jesus says I am saved, and that I have eternal life,” was his answer.
“Now tell me where He says that?” I inquired.
“In John 5:2424Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (John 5:24), Jesus says, ‘Verily, verily,’—which just means it’s true— “I say unto you,’—that’s to me, he continued— ‘He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me’—now I do believe on God, the sender,——the giver of Jesus; and the word of Jesus I have heard and read many a time— ‘hath everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment (no’ condemnation), but is passed from death, unto life.’ I know therefore everlasting life is mine, I know judgment is past and gone, I will never come into it, because Jesus says so; I don’t feel it, but I know all this to be true by the word of Jesus.”
I saw this dear man soon afterward, and found him very happy, and feeling it too. I have given you the substance of the conversation between the man and myself, to show you how one knew he was saved, not by feeling it, but by the Word of God.
Now, my dear boys and girls, are you not very happy some days?
“O!” say some, “I feel so happy,” putting their hands on their breast, “I feel so happy within, I know I am saved.”
Well, but tomorrow comes, bringing its cares and trials with it, and very likely finds the little one miserable and unhappy. How is this? Can you not put your hands on your breast now and say,
“I am saved?”
No, you cannot, because you do not feel happy within. Ah! that’s the secret of it. Now, I want you to turn from all within, to God’s Word, that will never fail you—will it now? The Word of God is settled in heaven. People’s feelings change with their circumstances. Bright days give happy feelings; dark days often bring miserable feelings. There are two things which never change. Shall I tell you what they are?
The CROSS and the WORD of God. Now, my peace rests on these two things which can never change, and never shake. The heaven and the earth will he removed, —they will shake to their very center, but the Cross of Christ and the Word of God will stand forever. The Word of God, then, assures me I am saved, because I believe on Jesus.
I will conclude this letter by entreating you, my dear young friends, to read carefully what God says to you in His Word. The Scripture cannot be broken, which says,
ML 08/04/1940